Mara Kanté, a French Muslim soccer player, found himself in jail for nearly two years after an anonymous witness claimed he saw Kanté firing a gun during riots in largely Muslim suburbs back in 2007. The witness eventually recanted, and Kanté was freed, but he's still trying to pick up the pieces.

Oil-rich Qatar invests extensively around the world. France is one of the largest recipients of Qatari money. But a plan for Qatar to fund business opportunities in the heavily Muslim suburbs near Paris is controversial.

France's former first lady, Carla Bruni is going back to her old job of chanteuse. For five years Bruni didn't record an album out of respect for presidential protocol. But now that her husband is out of office, she's letting loose.

A small group of Algerians who fought on the French side of Algeria's war of independence suffered widespread discrimination after the French military abandoned the country. Those who escaped to France didn't fair much better. Fifty years later, they're still waiting for an apology.

Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande are making their final pitch for votes in one of the most dramatic elections in recent French history. Opinion polls suggest the incumbent president is still trailing his Socialist challenger.